A Slave Who Became Emperor 22 Entering Indraprastha

Indraprastha is the capital city of the Gupta empire, it was an ancient city, also a great center for education. The city would look like a blooming lotus from aerial view. On the periphery of the city there were houses of commoners, the next concentric layer had houses of rich traders, going further inside there were houses of n.o.ble men, followed by the houses of relatives of the royal families and high ranked officials. Right in the center of the city was the royal palace where the ruling family of the Gupta empire resided. Near the royal palace was a great temple dedicated to lord Shiva (Hindu G.o.d of Salvation).

Indraprastha was known for being a great center of learning. There were different curriculum for students , designed on their interests. Education was compulsory, music and fine arts were given high importance. The city had a great fort wall of 300 feet which protected the city from invasions.

There were huge water reservoirs situated within the city and great granaries that were used to store food grains to be prepared to shut down the city from inside in case of a flood or an invasion.

Here the buildings were not as luxurious as in the Magadha empire. They were austere and practical but not lavish. Even the royal palace exuded simplicity. The army school was one of the best in the entire nation, many people from other empires came here to learn combat techniques. The Dusshera festival (Indian festival celebrating victory of good over evil) was approaching. The city was preparing for the festival.

Pinaka and Samyukta woke up as dawn broke. They got ready , thanked the chief and his wife for their hospitality. Samyukta gifted the woman with a string of valuable pearls, the woman's eyes shone but she tried to reject it. Samyukta asked her to accept them if she considered her as a sister.The woman felt happy and accepted her gift. They bid farewell and started, the kind lady packed some food for their onward journey.

To reach Indraprastha, they need to cross the Sundari forest. The Sundari forest was a feast to the eyes ,with beautiful fresh water lakes, greenary, attractive flowers it looked like a paradise on earth. There were beautifully colored b.u.t.terflies and birds in abundance. They saw rare medicinal plants there that could cure chronic ailments. Pinaka picked few herbs, he had good knowledge of Ayurveda ( science of natural medicine,originated from India). They continued moving forward, after four hours of journey, they decided to take a halt at a fresh water lake. They watered their horses and let them graze on the green gra.s.s. Chaitanya (Samyukta's horse) was not used to such long journeys, but he was trained hard and in a systematic way by Samyukta earlier which helped him to cope up.

Samyukta opened the food bag given by the woman and handed few portions of food to Shiva and his men. Pinaka and Samyukta shared the remaining, they knew that taking care of others before themselves was the most important quality of a leader. Once they felt rested enough, they continued their journey. They reached the boundaries of the Sundari forest by sunset, they offered their prayers to Sun G.o.d.

Then they entered the city of Indraprastha, the capital of Gupta empire. Pinaka looked at the city with great reverence, this was his mother land. The simplicity of the city and the practicality appealed to Pinaka. Though he respected Manipura (capital of Magadha),its opulence awed him, he always felt that all the money spent for decorating the magnificent buildings could be put to good use to support the poor and needy. That is why when Samyukta gave the plan to construct city hall that could be used as a home for elderly and orphans struck a chord with him.

They were walking towards the market place when few soldiers stopped them.One of the soldiers asked, ":who are you all? where are you coming from?" Shiva came forward and told the same story that he told to the village chief. The soldier nodded and said, "all of you please go and give your names in the visitors office and give them your details. This is for security reasons. Where will you stay?" Shiva said, "Ok, we will go and register, we have some relatives here, we will stay with them"

the soldier said, "Ok, remember to be careful and not to create any unrest here..we don't want any trouble" and left.

Pinaka and Samyukta looked at Shiva, he led them towards the visitors office, they gave in their details. Pinaka gave his name as Pinaka Veera and Samyukta gave her name as Sundari Veera. Then they went to a safe house Shiva and his men arranged for them, Pinaka and Samyukta took separate rooms and Shiva and men took a large room. Everyone got ready and a.s.sembled in the hall, Pinaka asked, "Tell me the current situation here, I would like to understand the condition of people, everyone please sit down"

Shiva started telling, " Your majesty, the situation is getting worse, though externally the situation seems ok, it is not so. People are being taxed heavily, and there is no meaning for few of the taxes they are paying. There is a tax for not cutting your hair and beard, there is a tax for women with long hair below the waist, ..all the own lands of farmers were taken away from them, they had to give away half of the crop they cultivated as a fee to continue using the land, many farmers are giving up farming and looking for petty jobs, the soldiers are acting as tyrants and s.n.a.t.c.hing away the gold and money of common people ....women are no longer safe, If Devadatta sees a woman and likes her, she had to warm his bed the same night, if the family does not hand her over, they kill the entire family." Samyukta and Pinaka looked at each other, there was anger in Pinaka's eyes. This was so disturbing...

Pinaka said, "I take a oath today that I will dethrone Devadatta and establish harmony in the empire. " Shiva and his men cried , "Hail Prince Pinaka! Hail Gupta empire!"